Barbarossa: Siege Lord a.k.a. Sword of War, 2009. Directed by Renzo Martinelli. Starring Rutger Hauer, Raz Degan and F. Murray Abraham. SYNOPSIS: In Northern Italy, the Germanic Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (Rutger Hauer) plans to capture the regions of the South and Centre to recreate the empire, leading to deadly clashes between the people of the […]

Paul, 2011. Directed by Gregg Mottola. Starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Seth Rogen, Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Jane Lynch, Sigourney Weaver, Blythe Danner and Gregg Turkington. SYNOPSIS: Two British comic book geeks meet up with an extraterrestrial who has escaped from Area 51. Where is the optimum position to sit in the cinema? […]

Cuckoo, 2009. Directed by Richard Bracewell. Starring Laura Fraser, Richard E. Grant, Antonia Bernath, Adam F. and Tamsin Greig. SYNOPSIS: Trapped in a dead-end job and with her relationship falling apart, a young woman finds herself questioning her grip on reality and turns to her boss for support, but he has a dark secret of […]

Terror Trap, 2010. Directed by Dan Garcia. Starring David James Elliot, Heather Marie Marsden, Jeff Fahey, Michael Madsen and Andrew Sensenig. SYNOPSIS: Don (David James Elliot) and Nancy (Heather Marie Marsden), a couple with an unhappy relationship, are run off the road on a rural back road. The surly Sheriff Cleveland (Jeff Fahey) drives the […]

Liam Trim with the latest edition of ‘Page and Screen’… With the all conquering Harry Potter franchise drawing to a close after a decade of record breaking box office figures and immeasurable sales of merchandise and DVDs, reams are being written attempting to sum up the reasons for the worldwide phenomenon. Recipes for success are […]

Liam Trim with ten reasons to see Transformers: Dark of the Moon… The latest Transformers movie has been critically panned from virtually every corner. Danny Leigh off that BBC show with Claudia Winkleface is even calling for strike action to boycott the movie in The Guardian and thus send a message to studio execs. But […]

Liam Trim discusses David Cronenberg’s upcoming non-fiction adaptation, A Dangerous Method… As cinemagoers and telly watchers we are used to accomplished adaptations of fictions born on the page. Whether it’s the BBC’s latest Jane Austen costume drama or blockbusters like the Harry Potter series, we consume creations transformed from the page to the screen all […]

Liam Trim discusses Flaubert’s cinematic Madame Bovary… Gustave Flaubert’s mid nineteenth century novel Madame Bovary might not appear all that remarkable if you read it today. At the time its focus on the limitations of marriage, along with its abundance of controversial ingredients like frequent and shameless adultery and suicide, made it a scandalous work […]

Up in the Air, 2009. Directed by Jason Reitman. Starring George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Melanie Lynskey, Zach Galifianakis, J. K. Simmons and Sam Elliott. SYNOPSIS: An airborne corporate downsizer discovers that life on the move can be a lonely business. There are basically two George Clooneys. There’s the lovable, charming, cocky […]

Withnail & I, 1987. Directed by Bruce Robinson. Starring Richard E. Grant, Paul McGann, Richard Griffiths and Ralph Brown. SYNOPSIS: Two unemployed and down-on-their-luck actors take a holiday in the countryside. Trapped inside a dank, empty cabin with an endless downpour of heavy rain, the two men form a complicated bond fuelled by booze, disaster, […]